Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



C. B. HOLDEN.

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm Patented Mar. 29, 1864.

UNITED STAT S PAT NT @FFICE.

CYRUS B. HOLDEN, OF \VORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, 'ASSIGNOR TO HIM-- SELFAND-S. I-I. BOWKER, QF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADlNG FIRE-'ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,139, dated March 99,1864.

To (all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CYRUS B. HOLDEN, of the city of Worcester, in thecounty of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Breech-Loading Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a central vertical longitudinalsection of the breech part of a fire-arm constructed according to myinvention. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

This invention consists, principally, in a certain novel mode ofapplying the movable breech piece of a breech loading fire-arm, wherebysimplicity of construction, conven ience for loading, and a firm supportfor the breech-piece in firing are obtained.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the frame of the arm, which connects the barrel B with the stock 0,and which contains the movable breech-piece D, and what may be termed abrace-lever, E, which serves the two purposes of attaching the movablebreech-piece to the fire-arm and of supporting it, so that it cannotrecoil while the arm is being fired. The frame A is mortised verticallyand longitudinally in rear 'of the barrel, as shown at a a, for thereception of the movable breech-piece 1) and brace-leverE, the mortisehaving parallel sides, being open at the top forits whole length, andits front part being open at the bottom, as shown at a in Fig. 1, for alength equal to the length-of the breech-piece. The breech-piece andbrace-lever are fitted to work easily between the sides of the mortise.The breech-piece occupies the front portion and the brace-lever the rearportion. of the mortise. The brace-lever works on afulerum-pin, b,whichis inserted transversely through the said lever at about the middle ofits length and through the frame. Thebreechpiece is attached at its rearto the front end of the brace-lever by a hinge, c, or its equivalent,and this is its only connection with the fire-arm, except thelocking-catch F, which A holds it in' position for firing, as will bepresently described. The lengths of the breechpiece and brace-lever aresueh,and they are so formed,that when the breech-piece is close up inposition to close the rear end of the barrel,

as shown in Fig. 1, at which time the lever is in line with or parallelwith thelineof boreof the barrel, the rear end of the said l'ever abutsagainst the solid metal of the frame at the rear of the mortise, asshown at d e in Fig. 1, and

that the front end of the said lever abuts square position for firing,and so prevents it from moving up higher than is necessary and beseemingjammed against the rear end of the barrel or front of the mortise a a.

The lockingcatch F, hereinbefore men- 'this lever is straight andreceived within a mortise, k, in the breech-piece, and part is in the-form of a ring of a suitable size to receive one of the fingers of theperson using it. The latter portion projects below the bottom of thebreech, and has on its rear a tooth, l, which enters a notch, m,provided in front of the st tionary trigger-guard G, or in a projectionformed on the bottom of the frame A. The

portion of the lever within the mortise k in.

piece being held in the left hand at a point in front of thebreech-piece,and so balanced, the forefinger of the right hand is placedin the ring of the locking-catch and pressed forward in such manner asto draw the teeth I out of the notch or, and then depressed to pull downthe breech-piece and brace-lever to the position shown in red outline inFig. 1--viz., as low as the length of the brace-lever permits. The righthand is then removed to take a cartridge, which is to be'placed' in themortise a c',in front of the brace-lever and upon the top of thebreech-piece, and pushed forward by the thumb into the barrel. Thebreech-piece is next pressed upward into the mortise a a as far aspermitted by the projection h, and the tooth l slips into the notch m,in position for firing. \Vhen in-this position, the breechpiece is sowell sustained by the short and stout brace-lever E that it cannot giveway unless the frame A breaks, and this can be made as strong as may berequired.

This improvement is more especially designed for the use of what aretermed fixedammunition cartridges; butit maybe used for other kinds ofcartridges. The hammer H and lock are arranged in rear of thebreechpiece and brace-lever, and to provide for the ignition of thefulminate priming by the blow of the hammer two pins, 1) q, are used,one sliding through ah ole bored through the bracelever and the otherthrough a hole bored through the breech-piece. These pins,which arearranged opposite each other, have heads p q at their contiguous ends,and are inserted into their places before. the breech-piece andbrace-lever are connected, and when the connection is made the said pinsare both prevented from slipping out. The countersunk cavities providedfor their heads in the breech-piece and brace-lever are, however, deepenough to permit them to move a short distance longitudinally. Thehammer strikes upon the pin 2 and drives it forward against the pin g,driving the latter forward against the portion of the cartridge whichcontains the priming, or against any primer that may be used. \Vheu thebreech-piece is brought to the position to open the rear end ofthebarrel for loading, the ends of the pins separate, so that they donot interfere with the operation of opening the barrel.

hat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The bl'eechnecc I) and brace-lever E,

combined with each other and with the frame of the arm, substantially asherein speci lied.

2. The two pins 7 q, one applied to slidein the brace-lever Eandtheothertoslide through the breech-piece I), and the two combined tooperate substantially as herein described.

- CYRUS B. HOLDEN.

\Vitnesses:

H. 0. Bios, J. HENRY HILL.

